Future Trends in Digital Learning

The biggest change in digital learning for the future is all about accessibility.  Right now the education that we provide as teachers is limited to the classroom, but I would love to see technology take education to the next level by allowing students or teachers to be anywhere and still learn a lesson.  I would love to see the day where the "classroom" is essentially a virtual reality that is accessible from anywhere and (nearly) FREE so that those individuals living in rural, war torn, or impoverished countries can have access to this learning.  I think the high costs are the biggest challenge of futuristic educational technology, so I would like to see learning technology accessible for everyone.

My current job consists of taking tourists of private custom tours where we show them the various cultural and historical sites on the island.  I would love to share some of these sites with students but realistically the cost of transporting a class full of students to take a field trip is a pain and not affordable on the day to day. However, I see virtual reality and virtual tours as being a part of education in the future.  I'm a big supporter of experiential education and I think it would be great for a student to able to immerse themselves in different locales around the world as part of their learning because the multi-sensory experience is far more than they'd ever get from a book or video.  To learn about the Great Wall of China while actually walking the Great Wall, or learning about volcanic islands while taking a virtual helicopter tour over an active lava flow all while not physically having to leave home.

It would be a safe and cost free way to try out different experiences.  We could learn to grow crops by virtually doing so, and think of how helpful this will be for drivers ed if students fully experience driving in a real world scenario without the possibility of actually getting hurt.

I'm talking simulations similar to those of the divergent series where students get to experience an alternate reality and truly interact with their environment because it is seemingly real.

Or if anyone is thinking about creating a teleporting machine that would be freaking AWESOME as well!